Early Bird registration ends Sunday, October 11 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
Live on Zoom • October 20, 21 & 22, 2026
Live online training for local event organizers
How to Market a Local Event in 2026
If your event marketing still depends on a flyer, a few Facebook posts, and hoping word-of-mouth kicks in, this class is for you.
You don’t need to master confusing social media algorithms or spend hours figuring out complex tech. You just need a clear path from people seeing your event online to full parking lots, packed rooms, and real crowds.
Over three live sessions, we’ll help you create a practical, real-world promotion plan built for community festivals, workshops, trivia nights, and other events that depend on people showing up.
Marketing has changed
Local events still matter. People still want festivals, workshops, fundraisers, 5Ks, trivia nights, live music, community celebrations, and reasons to get out of the house.
But the way people discover and decide to attend those events has changed. A flyer buried in a Facebook feed is not an event marketing system. Neither is one newspaper ad, one newsletter mention, or a Facebook Event with half the information missing.
You do not need to post everywhere. You need the right foundation, the right information, and a simple promotion plan that actually packs your event.
The event exists as a graphic or scattered posts, but not as a complete, searchable event record.
A complete event listing with the details they need to find it and decide to go.
The marketing lists facts without showing the atmosphere, experience, or reason someone would want to attend.
Photos, video, and posts that let them picture what the event will actually feel like.
People click “Interested,” buy an inexpensive ticket, or mean to go, then hear nothing useful before the event.
Simple, timely reminders and updates through the right channels that keep your event top of mind and turn online interest into physical crowds.
What changes when people can find your event
These are results from rural organizations and businesses using the same practical event-marketing principles taught in this class.
“They pulled it off, they succeeded, and they grew our event.”Rafe, LeRaysville Fire Department
Monthly workshops and classes normally sell out. In one recent week, every post was seen by at least 3,500 people, with several seen by more than 5,000 and one by more than 16,000.
Some of these results included paid advertising. Results vary by event, audience, budget, and execution. These examples show what focused, consistent event promotion can support.
What we will cover
Start with the goal and build the event correctly.
Turn awareness and interest into action.
Increase show-up and prepare for next year.
The Get People There formula
You may come to the class with one event in mind. You will leave knowing how to use the same practical system again for the next festival, fundraiser, class, or community event.
Give the event a complete online home people can actually find.
Help people picture the atmosphere and why they will want to attend.
Know what to communicate, where to share it, and when to do it.
Keep people interested, informed, and more likely to show up.
Event Marketing Workbook
Included with your registration
One organized workbook that turns the training into work you can use, including:
And more: event goals and attendance math, a quick social media page checkup, an event email guide, ticket-pricing guidance, a ticket-buyer communication flow, a QR survey template, and an event content-capture checklist.
Who this is for
If you are responsible for turnout, you belong here.
Meet the team behind Custom Geekery
We measure success by what happens when people show up.
Custom Geekery is a family-owned advertising and marketing business run by a mother and daughter team based in rural Pennsylvania. We work alongside small businesses, nonprofits, tourism organizations, and event organizers that need their marketing to produce something meaningful in the real world.
We want the businesses and events we support to earn enough to keep going, come back stronger, and grow. That means helping people find the event, understand why they want to attend, and remember to show up.
Both of us will be live throughout the training. Amy will lead the lessons, and Marisa will help with questions, examples, and practical support. You will be learning from a team that does this work every day with real businesses and real events.
Strategy, advertising, measuring results, and instruction
Video, websites, creative design, and live support
Early Bird registration
You do not need hundreds of additional ticket sales for this training to pay for itself.
If your event is free, the return may look like more attendees, more donations, stronger auction revenue, better results for vendors and sponsors, or a larger audience you can reach again next year.
$125
Regular registration: $150
One payment includes all three live sessions, live Q&A, course materials, and 12 months of replay access.
Our promise to you
Attend all three sessions live, participate, and bring your real event questions.
If you do not leave with a clear plan, stronger ideas, and more confidence about how to get people there, email us by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on October 22, 2026, and tell us how we missed the mark. We’ll refund your registration.
If you’re willing to show up and do the work, we’re confident this training will change the way you promote your events.
Save My SeatBefore you register
Recordings are included with 12 months of replay access after the final session. Live attendance is encouraged because you can ask questions about your event, but you will still be able to revisit the teaching afterward.
No. You should be able to access the Facebook Page or account used to promote your event. We will focus on a manageable system, not on turning you into a full-time content creator.
No. We will talk about how to create a complete event listing even if your organization does not have a website.
No. You can use the same system for fundraisers, classes, restaurant events, live music, workshops, open houses, recurring local events, and annual festivals.
No. Nonprofits, community organizations, local businesses, farms, wineries, venues, restaurants, and tourism partners can all use this system.
Yes, in Part 2: Get People There with Simple Local Paid Ads. Part 1 gives you the event foundation your ads need. Part 2 walks you through setting up your local target audience, creating simple visual ads, launching them, and tracking your crowd turnout results. You can add Part 2 during checkout for $100, which saves you $50 when you register for both parts together.
Let’s build a plan that helps the right people find your event, remember it, and gets people there on event day.
Register for $125